Think About It: Pothole Pondering

It's always nice to be recognized, except when it's for things you'd rather not be known for. Such is the case with a recent listing by The Road Information Program, or TRIP, which said that Honolulu drivers pay the 4th most of any city in the nation for auto repairs due to the wear and tear caused by our horrible roads.

Now we all know that excessive rain, flooding, and drainage can cause problems, but what's most bothersome to many people, I assume, is that the same roads seem to have problems in some of the same places time after time. I don't know what sort of space age resin or gunk we are using to repair our roads, let alone what type of material we use in the first place, but there are obviously many cities around our great nation that have better figured out how to reduce the wear and tear on tires, shock absorbers, and auto alignments.

The TRIP report listed almost half of Hawaii's main vehicular arteries in "poor" condition, with another 14% listed as "mediocre." And almost two-thirds of Honolulu main roads were rated "poor." So yes, we can keep fixing these problems by dumping in some gravel and tar, but let's also make sure that we are checking around for the latest, greatest methodologies and products that apparently allow other major metropolitan areas to have less holes, less ruts, and less repeated aggravation, because it‘s certainly going to rain again here... soon. Think about it…